Gottfried Mind

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Gottfried Mind

Gottfried Mind (born September 25, 1768 in Bern ; † November 7, 1814 there ) was a Swiss artist who was gifted on the island and specialized in children's and animal motifs. Because of his successful cat drawings, he became known as the cat Raffael .

Cats, watercolor by Gottfried Mind

Life

Mind grew up in simple circumstances, was physically handicapped and mentally retarded. Even as a child, he was noted for his talent in drawing and carving. Around 1775–1780 he lived in Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi's educational and work institute Neuhof in Birr , where he showed a talent in the field of fine arts, but could neither learn to write nor to calculate. After the Neuhof was closed in 1780, he was taken in by the Bernese painter Sigmund Freudenberger's family , in whose studio he initially worked as a colorator and draftsman. After Freudenberger's death, Mind continued to work in his studio. Mind died of lung disease at the age of 46.

plant

Mind mainly drew rural genre scenes with children and pets, especially cats. He had an above-average memory for visual impressions and almost never drew from nature, but from memory. His cat pictures are characterized by anatomical accuracy and empathy for the domestic life of the animals that he z. B. when hunting, playing or sleeping. The French painter Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun coined the nickname Cat Raffael for him.

literature

  • The cat Raphael , artist andecdote by Josef Meßner, Bohemia No. 73, May 29, 1846.
  • The cat Raphael. XII leaves groups of cats . Etched by L. Bellon, E. Eichens, F. Hegi, A. Hüssener, R. Reyher and A. Schrödter. Along with a brief sketch of Mind's life and the novel Der Katzen-Raphael by Franz Freiherrn Gaudy. Publisher EH Schroeder Berlin 1861.
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Mind, Gottfried . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 18th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1868, p. 339 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Carl Brun :  Mind, Gottfried . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 765 f.
  • Franz Wiedemann : The Katzenraphael. Life picture of a strange artist . 2nd Edition. Oehmigke, Leipzig 1887.
  • Adolf Koelsch: Gottfried Mind, the cat Raffael. Attempt of a picture of life . Montana, Zurich and Stuttgart 1924.
  • Walter Ueberwasser: The Cat Raphael . In: You: cultural monthly magazine, Volume 3, Issue 1, 1943, pp. 21–23.
  • Cats. Texts from world literature . Edited by Federico Hindermann . With illustrations by Gottfried Mind. Manesse im dtv, Munich 1994 ISBN 3-423-24044-X .

Web links

Commons : Gottfried Mind  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Der Katzen-Raphael  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FOCUS Online: Island talent; The second Raffael: Gottfried Mind (1768 to 1814, Switzerland)
personal data
SURNAME Mind, Gottfried
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cat Raffael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1768
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1814
Place of death Bern